May 1 (1976, 1979, 1981, 2002, 2006) May Day Monkeyflowers and Groundcones

“5/1/76 ...a sunny morning, quite warm. oaks in full leaf and deerbrush in bloom.
~ afternoon: a gentle breeze stirs the oak leaves. the air seems very clear. a rufous-sided towhee does its reedy trill in the brush, five second intervals. a few mourning doves call softly.”

“5/1/79 ~ yesterday a classic spring day. i wanted to stay here and enjoy it, but duty beckoned and i went to grass valley to make the land payment. ...

the birds sing so sweetly now. grosbeaks.”

[Russell Towle's journal]

“May Day 1981 ~ Hartze's dogs began barking up above on the hillside just before dawn. I scrambled to get my latest inspiration vis-a-vis barking dogs near my cabin: firecrackers. I have hundreds of them. Found the packages, unwrapped one, struggled to untangle a few crackers, tore the fuses off a couple, finally got one out ~ a dud ~ then another dud—but at long last, the required explosion was achieved, though the dogs had moved on west by then.”

is a picture I took this morning of a strange wildflower called the California Groundcone, Boschniakia strobilacea.

Manzanita, host plant of California Groundcone

These members of the Broomrape Family are parasitic on the roots of manzanita. They have no chlorophyll, no green leaves. They do, however, flower. Many are just emerging, now, near the head of the Pickering Bar Trail, south of Gold Run.

To reach this spot, at the Gold Run exit on I-80, take Magra Road west, and in a few hundred yards turn left (south) on Garrett Road. Follow Garrett for almost two miles; the pavement ends, keep to the white-graveled road which looks too much like a private driveway, on the left. Stay left when opportunity arises; the graveled driveway leads away right towards a sign which proclaims, "No River Access." The now-ungraveled road of red clay bends around to the east, out of view of the house nearby, and further progress in a car is soon stopped by a large gate.

You are on the rim of the North Fork canyon.

And, you are on public lands, administered by the BLM. Park off to the side and walk past the gate, on down the hill, on the Road of Red Clay. This very road is depicted on the 1866 GLO map of this area, and my guess is that it dates to at least 1852, if not 1851, when gold was discovered at the head of Indiana Ravine.

California Groundcone(Boschniakia strobilacea)

Red Clay Road winds in and out of small ravines along the canyon rim, and a side road breaks away left (north) into the Diggings; but just stay on Red Clay Road. Cross another ravine.

When a large group of fallen Knobcone Pines is met, blocking the road, you are in fabled Boschniakia Land. Look carefully beneath the manzanita bushes on the north, uphill side of the road.

Incidentally, the very size of the Knobcone Pines in this area is notable. Some are at least two feet in diameter, large for a Knobcone. These pines are fire-adapted members of the Closed-Cone-Pine subfamily of the Pinaceae; their nearest relative is the Monterey Pine, with which they will hybridize, as I have seen for myself on the fog-swept ridges above Año Nuevo Point, north of Santa Cruz.

California Groundcone(Boschniakia strobilacea)

Passing the fallen pines, the Pickering Bar Trail forks away right (south) in fifty or a hundred yards. To see many more Boschniakia, follow the trail south another hundred yards or so, until they appear beneath the manzanita on the left (east).

These plants look much like small pine cones growing directly from the ground. Some are red, some are yellow.

If one keeps to Red Clay Road beyond Pickering, and fights past another clump of fallen Knobcones, a very remarkable view can be had east through Giant Gap to Green Valley, Sawtooth Ridge, Black Mountain, Quartz Mountain, etc. One sees snow peaks framed by the cliffs of Giant Gap. Quite quite nice. Try to catch this view early in the morning, before ten if possible. The deeper shadows enhance it.

To follow Red Clay beyond the Magic Overlook is to reach Indiana Ravine, and the Secret World, and the Indiana Hill Ditch, and the trail down to the Diving Board Ridge; patient exploration will be well rewarded.

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About this site ~

On September 20, 1975, Russell Towle wrote in his journal...

“twilight in wren shack, wren shack in twilight. just returned from the north fork land, checking it out. it's beautiful ~ the awesome canyon of the american river, with tinker knob (8900') above all at the canyon's head on the sierra crest. there are acorn woodpeckers, hawks, wrens no doubt, incense cedars & ponderosas, sugar pines, black and canyon live oaks, doug fir, digger pine, manzanita, garrya fremontii, deerbrush; there are magnificent cliffs: and tho nothing is perfect (save the All) (there will be logging soon in a wonderful grove beside the river) (and you can hear the train go by) ~ i look forward very much to living there.”

Thus began Russell's 33 years of observing, exploring, living in, studying, and writing about this fantastical place.

﻿

Russell Towle in the narrows of Canyon Creek, 25 February 2006.

I am Gay Wiseman, Russell's partner of 20 years. I've worked on this project in fits and starts since Russell's sudden death in August 2008. Some of the most recent material was posted on his North Fork Trails blog (link in right sidebar) but a great deal of it has never been shared anywhere before.

Included are portions of journal entries, portions of personal correspondence, formal essays, many photographs and some audio and video recordings, as well as links to external sources and selections from Russell's blog posts that will—over the course of a calendar year—provide a revealing and sensitive portrait of this river canyon at the turning of the millennium; of its geology, its beauty, its mystique; of the natural and human history of the region, and of the ongoing threats to its preservation as one of California's few remaining partially wild watercourses.

I still live in the great canyon. I still appreciate every day things that Russell helped me see and know during our years together. I am ever grateful for his determined and diligent effort over so many years to preserve a record of the canyon marvels he was enriched by every single day. I hope you also will enjoy this unique portrait of the grand and glorious canyon, the North Fork of the American River, in California's Sierra Nevada mountain range; and of life lived within it.

Spend a year with us, exploring and loving this place.

Contact email:gwiseman at giantgapmedia.com

Revived!

A regional history with a broad scope, assembled from primary sources, with Towle's incisive commentary interspersed throughout.

Click the book cover to view the book's page on Amazon.com in a separate window.

Originally self-published by Russell in 1994, the book is a 600-page edited collection of primary source material centering on the region of the western Sierra Nevada river canyons and ridges around the small but pivotal settlement town of Dutch Flat, California

The book is also available for purchase through the Golden Drift Museum in Dutch Flat, and for borrowing from local Placer County libraries.

poem

Forever may she flow and flourish, the North Fork American River;Fully may she heal, the American River watershed; High may she lift us, the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range;Whole, may we know her, this Living Earth.